Dad's 80th Birthday Party Week-end.

Fri AM: We're leaving on a jet plane....Just started snowing in UT.

The snow followed us to CO.

 We flew in Fri at noon and

had lunch with Grandma & Grandpa.

Then we headed to the Aquarium with Nicholi.

By evening the snow was coming down pretty hard but the McCarty cousins came to our hotel swimming.

Happy 80th Birthday Dad.

Gavin's Mimi

Once you're a mom you lose your own identity. I've been Clay and Chelsea's mom for so long.
Well last night I was walking Punkin and I heard this little voice holler "Hi Gavin's Mimi".  That made me smile!

Park Day

Chels and Boo went to the park with friends. I decided to walk over and meet them. It was a lot further than I thought. I was sure happy to see their car when I got close but I got a good work out in.

I was talking to Clay today about something on facebook and K says " I want a facebook friend named Clara on my computer".  Clara is his girlfriend at school. They are crazy about each other. Clay and I were talking that Clay + Tara = Clara. She is one of those people meant to come into his life. And it would be the perfect name if there's a Baby #3.

And we got to watch Kinzi crawl last night via skype. The next best thing to being there.

Almost as much fun as fishing.



It was a beautiful evening. Most of the ice is gone, but still a little behind the clubhouse.



Looking in the dumpster at all the smelly fish thinking I could've caught you this summer....

This year our lake was frozen for over 3 months. It's the longest since we've lived here. The problem with this deep freeze is when the lake finally started thawing we have dead fish everywhere. Thousands of them. They're saying it happened because of the lack of oxygen. Gavin and his friend Rhett thought it was mighty fun to stab the dead fish and drag them onshore. They were so big (about 3' long and 30 lbs average so Papa had to come to the rescue and help them dispose of them. The Stansbury Service Agency got a dumpster to put all the dead fish in. Pretty strange. Hopefully it will
help our lake be better, somehow.

zions national park and saint george, ut trip

The sand was as pretty as sand beside the ocean so I had to take a pic with the date in it.

We went off the beaten path and walked this dried up river bed looking for rocks. We had never been to Zions when there was snow on the rocks.

We found these foot prints. Maybe a bobcat?

There was a girl taking her picture here with her hands raised up in the air like a super model. After she left Tommy decided to do it. Hers looked nothing like this. ha

Me on the bridge.

Frozen waterfall with the ice dripping.

We stopped at a rock shop and Tom bought me a heart shaped rock.  The owner recommended Oscars restaurant for lunch. It was delicious. We split a $13.00 hamburger.



We have about 100 pictures of this little guy and his friends. The park now has a $100.00 fine if you feed them.



Tom, Ronnie & Mikey ready to golf. Haven't seen Tom this excited in awhile! ha

We have had the longest, coldest, snowiest winter with horrible inversions and decided we needed some sunshine so we headed south. The first night was spent in Springdale, UT outside of Zions. The next two nights were spent in St. George. Sunday Tom golfed with Tom Gappmayer, Ronnie & Mikey. Karen and I went shopping and bought matching scarves and necklaces. And I got to trade in my snowboots for my flip flops for a couple days.

Until I found you....

Killian wanted to Skype again tonight. When we got connected and asked him what he was doing he said "just playing the mud game until I found you."

Mimi Day. 052713

I asked Boo if he wanted to go to a movie this afternoon and he said No, he thought he'd like to go to the park. I told him it was pretty cold out and he said well we can get bundled up.  So we did and went for a nice walk with Punkin. Much healthier and cheaper than a movie. And luckily Boo survived trying to teach Punkin to go down the slides.  Later in the evening we got to babysit Colby's 1 week old baby while she ran to the store. Also her two older boys came to play with Boo. In the middle of all of this Clay skyped us. Papa and K gave each other High Fives via Skype. And as we're skyping and phones are ringing and kids are being loud Clay says "Mom, I really miss your crazy house....for about 5 minutes!"   Ha

Dewaynes Memorial Location

We decided if we were going to have Dewayne's memorial at the Camelot Resort we better go check it out before putting our deposit down. We Loved the location. The rooms were just OK. Then we went to Big Tom and Peggys' for lunch. They're only about 1/2 hour away. It was a nice day.

kinzi pooh ~ I love you!

Happy Valentine's Day

I was telling Boo that we should be eating food that is the colors of the rainbow to be the healthiest. Later on that night as I'm eating my Valentine Chocolates he said "Mimi, I don't think brown chocolate is in the rainbow."

MT Trip

GENTLE GIANT ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP~LOOK FOR HIS FACE & NOSE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE. NEVER NOTICED THIS AND A GUY TOLD US TO WATCH FOR IT WHEN WE WERE GETTING GAS IN HELENA.

~PRINCESS KINZI~

Carole ended up getting sick, so just Wendell, Tom and I went to MT for a long week end to celebrate Tara's birthday and Super Bowl Sunday. We enjoyed the kids so much. Killian got a new big boy bed. We had Tom's famous bean dip and chicken wings and Clays now famous crab vegetable soup. We decided to wait until Killian left on the bus to go home. It was so sad. He got on the bus, then the driver told us we could all get on and tell him good bye one more time. When I got on he said "Mimi, please stay." I got off the bus and went to the window until they pulled off. He had this sad little face and I touched the window and he put his hand on the other side of the glass on top of my hand. That made me start crying. Love these little kids. Killian told us he wanted to be a robot when he grew up.

Boo and Papa's Snowman

Dishes with Boo

Boo was helping me do dishes last night and as he was washing he said "You expect me to do dishes in this knife infested water?"

K's First Stitches.

Oh, Mimi.....

Just Breathe

When Tom called me and told me they were just keeping DeWayne alive by machines but he thought he was already gone I got in my car and looked up at the sky. I saw this and it gave me a good feeling. Like the heavens were opening up for DeWayne. Michelle took a picture of an eagle and showed it to me and said the Indians believe the first bird you see is your loved one and the eagle brought her peace. Then Chels told me she saw two hawks and one turned and looked at her and she felt something special also. I was telling Tom about the birds and he said he saw a whole swarm of black birds but didn't really get a feeling. Gavin was in the backseat and the old soul that he is said "I think a piece of Uncle Wayner is in all the birds now". Not sure where that child got all his wisdom, but he definately has some.

DeWayne's Obituary

Dewayne David McCarty was born Jan. 30, 1959 in Denver to Thomas L. and Joan E. McCarty. He died Jan. 14 in Salt Lake City surrounded by his family. He is preceded in death by his mom and brother Timothy and survived by his dad, step-mom Peggy, and his brothers Robert (Cindy), Thomas (Pamela) and Shawn (Michelle). He had no children but loved his nieces and nephews like his own. To them he was their Uncle Wayner. To many others he was known by his childhood nickname, Inky. Dewayne was a kind, quiet person and the only thing that feared him was the fish he loved catching. In lieu of flowers, a random act of kindness in Dewayne’s memory is appreciated. When your brother dies there is one less person to remember your childhood with. We’ll miss you. Tell Mom Hi.

La Fra to celebrate Dewayne

So where does the whole family go

when they want to go out? Of course La Frontera.  Went and had smothered burritos and reminisced about Uncle Wayner. Told a few stories, had a few tears, and were happy we had family.

DeWayne at Christmastime and New Years Eve and the day he went to Heaven.

RIP Uncle Wayner 01-30-59 to 01-14-13 This morning on the way to work the guy on the radio said today is the official" most depressing day of the year". Today our day was sad, more than depressing. Bobby drove in from CO and met Tommy at the hospital around noon. The Dr. told them there was going to be no tomorrow for DeWayne. So they called Shawn and Big Tom drove down from Tabiona. By four everyone was gathered there to say good bye. Big Tom, Shawn and Tommy decided not to be in the room when they turned off the life support machines. In fact Big Tom wanted to be out of the hospital. Bobby, Chelsea, Shawny & Ryan were in there. I stayed outside with Tom. I told him we should say a prayer or something to which he started saying "Now I lay me down to sleep". Shawn, Michelle and I chimed in to help him finish it and it made us all smile. Tom has a way of knowing what to say to calm any situation and this was one of those times. Chels held Uncle Wayners hand and said he went very peacefully. A new experience for all of us. After everything was finalized and we were leaving the hospital and all very somber we were getting on the elevator and this little Mexican boy pointed to Tommy and Bobby and said something about those two OLD guys over there. They looked at each other and said "who us old guys?" and we all laughed for a long time. Dewayne would've loved that.

New Tablecloth

Cleaned up all the Christmas Stuff and decided to put this cute quilt on my table to brighten things up a little. Tom walks in and says "why is a quilt on the table?" I explain it's our tablecloth. Then Boo comes in and says "why is this blanket on here?" so I explained to him also. Then I walk downstairs and see the cat laying on top of the table!!! Tom says' "See, even he thinks it's quilt".

Killian Quip

Killian advised Clay and Tara he would like Tara to have a baby brother next and he would like to name him WALSKI.    He was also playing like he was breast feeding Kinzi's babydoll and asked Clay if he wanted to try. Clay told him no to which K responded "it's just pretend Dad!"   Love that little boy. We also got to watch Kinzi roll over via Skype this week. Priceless.....

Click Clack Moo Play with Boo and Chels at the Salt Lake Acting Company

Happy New Year 2013

It's a New Year and a New Blog Book and New Hope for Joy and Peace for everyone. Cheers.